


slow it down

by pr1nc3ssp34ch (dallisons)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Acceptance, Friendship, Gen, Missing Scene, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-21 12:13:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3691848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dallisons/pseuds/pr1nc3ssp34ch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Stiles isn't sleeping," John starts. "Is that some sort of magic side-effect? The screaming thing?" He looks worn out from head to toe. Melissa doesn't know that <i>he's</i> sleeping.</p>
<p>"Scott sleeps," she says. "But I'm pretty sure magic doesn't affect everyone the same."</p>
            </blockquote>





	slow it down

**Author's Note:**

> I hate to give the Sheriff a name, but since I had to I gave him what seems to be the most popular one, considering I am not creative enough to think of anything better. Set between 3a and 3b.
> 
> I do hope you enjoy it Jason!!! <3

Melissa slips into bed just when the doorbell rings.

 

"Damn," she murmurs, sinking back into the mattress for a moment. It's so nice. Three graveyard shifts in a row and three days of nightmares and someone's at the god damn door.

 

Finally, because being a mother makes you used to doing things you don't really feel like doing, she gets up. Whoever is coming over at noon can handle her pajamas and fuzzy slippers. Another knock comes, and she wants to yell but holds her tongue, since the door's so close. The last thing she expects to see is John Stilinski. 

 

"Hi." She hasn't seen him since they were kidnapped together. It hasn't been that long, but it brings a weird rush to her stomach. 

 

"Hey." He looks nervous, too, which is strange. They've known each other for over a decade. It shouldn't be this hard to look one another in the eye. "Can I come in?"

 

"Of course! Definitely." 

 

There's an awkward silence where they both stand in the hallway, staring at their shoes. Melissa regrets not taking off the slippers now, but it's far too late. Wordlessly, they move to the kitchen, where Melissa pours them each some coffee. It puts her at ease to remember that she knows how he takes his. They know each other. Being trapped in a root cellar doesn't change that. The silence between them isn't quite comfortable, but she knows he's here for a reason. She waits.

 

"Stiles isn't sleeping," John starts. "Is that some sort of magic side-effect? The screaming thing?" He looks worn out from head to toe. Melissa doesn't know that  _he's_  sleeping.

 

"Scott sleeps," she says. "But I'm pretty sure magic doesn't affect everyone the same."

 

"Is that 'cause he's a..."

 

"A werewolf." Melissa sympathizes, but a strange protective feeling rises up in her as well. In spite of her own initial reaction, knowing Scott now, knowing how good he's been doing... No one could possibly be more proud. 

 

"Right." John shifts, anxiously, and she tries not to feel angry. It freaked her out, too, at first. "Does magic affect him differently?"

 

"The way I heard it, what they did for us left its mark on their souls. It doesn't matter if they're human or werewolf. It's about what's inside." In spite of her medical training, Melissa's always believed in souls. She just wishes her son hadn't poisoned his.

 

John takes a long swig of coffee. "How do you handle this? Any of it? We can't -- I can't protect them like this. I'm a cop, a vet, and I might as well be a damsel in distress."

 

Melissa bites her tongue on that, not wanting to hurt his ego. "You are," she admits. "A little bit. They want to protect us too. But that doesn't mean we can't try. That doesn't mean we can't help."

 

"But they're our kids! How do I let Stiles just... he's my son. He wakes up screaming, terrified, every night. Like he's gone off to war." The Sheriff blinks, hard. "How do I send my son off to war?"

 

The question throws her. Melissa doesn't know. She does it every day, but she's never heard it put so succinctly before. Sometimes it feels like her whole life was leading up to Scott, to raising him, loving him. Protecting him even from things he hadn't realized could hurt him yet. Somewhere along the line, between the bite and the cage Matt Daehler put her in, he became a more than her son. He became the protector. He's seventeen, and the weight of the world is on his shoulders.

 

"He'll take it on anyway," she says, not thinking about the answer until she says it. "It's been their responsibility for so long... they'll never give it up. You can't protect him, but you can be there for him."

 

John heaves a sigh, and she knows how he feels. "Don't think about it that way. Just... be proud. He's done a lot. They all have. And no one's ever gonna know about it but us."

 

For the first time, a smile starts to come onto his face. "I am. Damn proud. He doesn't really believe it, though."

 

"Scott's the same. He wouldn't even let me get excited about his report cards."

 

John snorts. "Stiles wouldn't let me  _stop_ being excited about his report cards.  _Or_ Scott's, since he told me Scott's grades too. If I didn't talk about it three weeks later he was devastated. Always wanted to keep the good attention while it lasted, since they kept getting into trouble."

 

Melissa tries and fails not to laugh. "That's why they work out. I always knew they'd take on the world, you know."

 

"I guess I just didn't think the world had this much in it." John's face scrunches up, then he sighs, looking enough like Stiles it's spooky. "Sorry I bothered you."

 

"Hey," Melissa offers, "It's payback for when Scott had pneumonia and I made you take all those night shifts so someone would always be in there with him while I worked." 

 

John laughs, some of the tension leaving his body. "Kid was so stuffed up it sounded like he spoke another language."

 

He did sound pretty bad, but he doesn't like to bring it up. "Here, I'll make you lunch. Sleep's out the window for a good few hours at this point."

 

"No, no," John says, standing and making as if to leave. "I put you out enough. We should both probably get some sleep."

 

"I insist." Melissa pushes him back into his seat on the way to the fridge. He goes with little resistance. "You clearly haven't slept since  _Stiles_ hasn't slept, and since I can't make you do that, I can at least make you eat right."

 

He groans. "Not you, too. Even now, Stiles calls with Maura to make sure I'm not eating curly fries and donuts for lunch." He scoffs. "As if I'd do it in front of her."

 

Melissa smacks the back of his head and he ducks, laughing. "I don't want to see you in my hospital until you're ninety, you hear me?"

 

"Yes ma'am." Funnily enough, he and Stiles have the exact same 'innocent' face, but Melissa refuses to give him any more fuel to laugh about later. 

 

This is how it should be. They've been leaning on each other for far too long to let a kidnapping and a dark druid tear them apart. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [tumblr](http://dallisons.tumblr.com) and [twitter](http://twitter.com/derekkira).


End file.
